Payrise in public sector jobs?

[moonsi til]

I'm on a 2 year pay freeze and not expecting my inflation linked raise to address the rising costs that I have such as food/petrol/gas/electric. I have no idea what will happen to my pay in 2013.

 

[Mapped]

The public sector pay freeze was already in place during the last so called Labour government.

Not where I worked it wasn't, not pre-2008 under Ken anyway. Everyone got their incremental pay rises.

 

[FiFi]

That's the same for most people who stay in the same job, unless there is only one level for their job, in which case it stays the same from dot.

Doesn't seem to be many people below board level whose salaries have kept up with inflation the last 5 years. Unless they've been promoted which doesn't count, obvs.

Hmm, funny how it's the rich(and powerful) that keep getting richer.

 

[Citizen66]

We have a pay agreement of something like 0.25% above RPI over the next three or four years I think.

 

[quimcunx]

Isn't it just. In fact I've heard that some of these wealth creators have awarded themselves increases in excess of inflation. They must be frightfully good at their jobs, unlike those rubbish nurses or binmen or desk jockeys.

 

[quimcunx]

We have a pay agreement of something like 0.25% above RPI over the next three or four years I think.

Well that's something, I suppose. A strong union makes a bit of difference. Something the private sector doesn't seem to have caught onto...

 

[Citizen66]

Isn't it just. In fact I've heard that some of these wealth creators have awarded themselves increases in excess of inflation. They must be frightfully good at their jobs, unlike those rubbish nurses or binmen or desk jockeys.

Well they get awarded on the basis of cutting costs/increasing profits. So freezing wages is beneficial to themselves.

 

[existentialist]

It's often suggested that public sector workers get pay rises by the back door in that they are automatically moved up a grade annually, even if the pay which applies to the grade itself is frozen. Was this ever true? Is it true now?

It's not true for me. I had an approximately 1% rise in 2008, and 2009, and nothing since. I am also told that my pay freeze is going to continue for the next 2 years. In that time, I have seen petrol prices (I do several hundred miles a week for my work that I cannot claim for) rise by about 50%, food prices rise by something around 30%, and utility bills go up by not much less than that.

When I leave (which I shall probably be the first of my team to do), my boss will almost without doubt interpret it as disloyalty. I shan't care about her viewpoint, though I shall be troubled by the fact that it means that I shall almost undoubtedly be replaced by a much less qualified and experienced practitioner who won't be able to do anywhere near what I do in my job.

And I imagine that story is true throughout the public sector. It may even be that Cameron et al will end up getting exactly what they are wishing for...

ETA: just checked my payslips - I got some kind of "adjustment" in 2009, not a pay rise. It was around ¼%. So my last pay rise was 4 years ago.

 

[quimcunx]

Well they get awarded on the basis of cutting costs/increasing profits. So freezing wages is beneficial to themselves.

See, they are wealth creators!

 

[Citizen66]

Well that's something, I suppose. A strong union makes a bit of difference. Something the private sector doesn't seem to have caught onto...

Or it's easily got rid of workers on temporary contracts which find it harder to organise.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

And I imagine that story is true throughout the public sector. ..

Well, if this thread demonstrates anything, it is that there is significant variance in different parts of government and public services. As one would expect.

 

[goldenecitrone]

Apparently we are getting a Christmas bonus of about £80 to make up for the pay freeze of the last two years.

 

[existentialist]

Apparently we are getting a Christmas bonus of about £80 to make up for the pay freeze of the last two years.

Then Maurice Picardia's right: we're not getting any kind of bonus to make up for pay freezes!

 

[goldenecitrone]

Works out at a packet of peanuts a week for the last two years.

 

[Looby]

It's often suggested that public sector workers get pay rises by the back door in that they are automatically moved up a grade annually, even if the pay which applies to the grade itself is frozen. Was this ever true? Is it true now?

Some public sector employers do have progression pay but this is generally because it's written into contracts and hard to get out of. It's not the reality for the vast amount of public sector employees.

 

[Citizen66]

Well that's something, I suppose. A strong union makes a bit of difference.

What fucks me off is that I've lost hundreds of pounds in following through industrial action to place enough collective upward pressure to guarantee that but the scabs who slate the (striking) unions get to enjoy those pay agreements also as they're applied across the board without prejudice.

You never, ever, see them offering to forgo the rise in order to protect the bosses they're agreeing with. They're fucking scumbags because they get the pay raise AND keep the wages the rest of us lost which can sometimes amount to the raise itself calculated over the next year.

 

[Kanda]

Private sector here and had nearly a 50% pay cut since 2008.

 

[Quartz]

I'm all for pay rises based on merit and contract but seeing as I'm facing a 10% pay cut, I'm rather leery of blanket pay rises 'just because'.

 

[Citizen66]

I'm all for pay rises based on merit and contract but seeing as I'm facing a 10% pay cut, I'm rather leery of blanket pay rises 'just because'.

Just because everything costs more than it did last year? How terrible to want to keep up with inflation.

 

[sim667]

I've been on an 'indefinate' pay rise for 4 years.

Considering the cant even pay me the money im owed properly, my hopes of ever getting a payrise out of this place are non existent.

 

[Quartz]

Just because everything costs more than it did last year? How terrible to want to keep up with inflation.

I'd like to keep up with inflation too. Instead I'm getting a 10% pay cut. And BTW I used to be a council employee.

 

[Citizen66]

I'd like to keep up with inflation too. Instead I'm getting a 10% pay cut. And BTW I used to be a council employee.

So, because you're getting a pay cut everybody else should too? I don't see the logic in that whatsoever.

 

[Onket]

There is no logic in it.

 

[marty21]

We have a pay agreement of something like 0.25% above RPI over the next three or four years I think.

probably thanks to a strong union

 

[Looby]

So, because you're getting a pay cut everybody else should too? I don't see the logic in that whatsoever.

Yep, it's bloody crazy and selfish.

It was the same when we were campaigning against pension changes.
The response I got time and time again was 'well I don't have a pension at all'

But they should and I wish everyone was in a workplace with a strong, recognised union to fight for decent terms and conditions.

No-one should retire without a pension, no-one should have to work until they're 68 and everyone should be on a decent wage with cost of living rises at least in line with inflation.

I don't get the mentality of wishing crap stuff on other people, does it really make anyone feel better about their own problems?

 

[Citizen66]

It certainly doesn't help their own problems given that they may wish to change jobs to the very positions that they think shouldn't get good pensions and pay rises. Turkeys voting for Christmas.

 

[Miss-Shelf]

I have had frozen pay since 2010 and in the last two years we've had eight people leave the team (was 20 now down to 12)
and the workload has increased massively leading to more, much more work for less money - ain't that a pay cut by stealth?
12 people are now doing the jobs that kepy 20 very busy

 

[existentialist]

12 people are now doing the jobs that kepy 20 very busy

And you can count on it that it'll be the most committed and hard working of the 12 that are picking up the lion's share of the shortfall! I just hope people aren't working late or doing extra "off the books", because you can count on it that someone in the management chain is already rubbing their hands at what they think is a 60% improvement in productivity...

 

[spanglechick]

And you can count on it that it'll be the most committed and hard working of the 12 that are picking up the lion's share of the shortfall! I just hope people aren't working late or doing extra "off the books", because you can count on it that someone in the management chain is already rubbing their hands at what they think is a 60% improvement in productivity...

Unfortunately in a lot of jobs, working late, doing extra, taking work home and working weekends and holidays as needed are part of the contract. I speak for teaching, but it's true of lots of jobs.

 

[Quartz]

There is no logic in it.

At last! Someone correctly realises that my post was an emotional response, not a logical one.